Back to school: Teacher Training College

 You might have noticed my complete absence from this blog for the past week. Now before you express your complaints, I had a very good reason for this temporary break! Settle down, sweethearts. I'm back and I'm here to stay. You see, the reason for my hiatus was school. I had my first week of school and since I always need those first few days to get accustomed to everything, I decided I would just leave the blog for a short while.

So now that I'm back, I'd like to tell you about my new school and what exactly is it I do there. I tried university for two years, studying English and Dutch linguistics and literature, but it just wasn't for me. I had a hard time admitting that to myself, but now I'm happy that I got out of that negative spiral. I wasn't a very good student and I constantly felt like I didn't get it and I didn't belong. I wasn't very happy with life. 

So then I decided to quit! Ah! Freedom! But not for very long, since I still have to earn a degree. I still love languages and I still love my English and Dutch dearly, so I didn't want to give up on my favourite subjects (and let's just be honest: the only two things I'm really good at). So what did I choose?
TEACHER TRAINING COLLEGE!
Yes, I only just learned what it's called in English today. How convenient!

So yes, I'm studying to become a teacher in English and Dutch (and I might even do an extra year in History as well! Just for funsies. History is fun.) With this degree I will be able to teach kids from ages 12 to 16, sort of like Middle School, I suppose. So basically I have to get a bunch of teenagers to listen to me nag about English or Dutch. Lovely, isn't it?!
Please excuse my sarcasm. You see, it's not that I'm not excited (because I am!!! Very much!!), it's just that I can't help being realistic about this: teenagers aren't easy to handle. And I will have to learn a lot about managing a class room so I can be a good teacher, since that's what I'm aiming for. I'm passionate about my subjects, and I also care for youngsters, but jeeeez don't get me started on how annoying they can be. We've all been there. (Some never left...)

 No really, I'm actually very excited to have started a new chapter in my life (nice and cheesy, yes). I really want to grow and evolve and just become an interesting person, a good teacher and a loving woman. I've had one class of each of my different courses now, so I can say that I really do enjoy it and I feel very comfortable at school. In this first week I also tried to get to know a lot of people, since I didn't have any friends at university, and I even made some lovely friends. I couldn't be happier! I feel good, very motivated, accepted and for once I don't feel like everything is way over my head. I feel right! I feel so happy! Okay, lots of feelings here.

Basically this is what I felt like sharing about my life as a teacher in training. Now that school has started I can build up a new routine to keep everything running smoothly, homework-wise and blog-wise. I might make some changes, like days I'll be posting on, but we'll see about that. 

Thanks for sticking around while I was otherwise occupied. Y'all are the greatest!

Review: Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

Between Shades of Gray

Ruta Sepetys
Published by Philomel Books 2011
Genre: Young Adult, Historical Fiction, World War 2

Goodreads | Bookdepository

Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they've known. Separated from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here they are forced, under Stalin's orders, to dig for beets and fight for their lives under the cruelest of conditions.

Lina finds solace in her art, meticulously--and at great risk--documenting events by drawing, hoping these messages will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive. It is a long and harrowing journey, spanning years and covering 6,500 miles, but it is through incredible strength, love, and hope that Lina ultimately survives. Between Shades of Gray is a novel that will steal your breath and capture your heart.

Review: Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl

Jesse Andrews
Published by Harry N. Abrams 2012
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Goodreads | Bookdepository

Greg Gaines is the last master of high school espionage, able to disappear at will into any social environment. He has only one friend, Earl, and together they spend their time making movies, their own incomprehensible versions of Coppola and Herzog cult classics.

Until Greg’s mother forces him to rekindle his childhood friendship with Rachel.

Rachel has been diagnosed with leukemia—-cue extreme adolescent awkwardness—-but a parental mandate has been issued and must be obeyed. When Rachel stops treatment, Greg and Earl decide the thing to do is to make a film for her, which turns into the Worst Film Ever Made and becomes a turning point in each of their lives.

And all at once Greg must abandon invisibility and stand in the spotlight.

Review: Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Wonder

R.J. Palacio
Published by Knopf 2012
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Goodreads | Bookdepository

I won't describe what I look like. Whatever you're thinking, it's probably worse.

August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school—until now. He's about to start 5th grade at Beecher Prep, and if you've ever been the new kid then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie's just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he's just like them, despite appearances?

R. J. Palacio has written a spare, warm, uplifting story that will have readers laughing one minute and wiping away tears the next. With wonderfully realistic family interactions (flawed, but loving), lively school scenes, and short chapters, Wonder is accessible to readers of all levels.

Review: The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

Michelle Hodkin
Published by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Adults 2011
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal

Goodreads | Bookdepository

Mara Dyer doesn’t think life can get any stranger than waking up in a hospital with no memory of how she got there.

It can.

She believes there must be more to the accident she can’t remember that killed her friends and left her mysteriously unharmed.

There is.

She doesn’t believe that after everything she’s been through, she can fall in love.

She’s wrong.